[EN] Violin, Microsoft Develop All-Flash Array for Windows

Violin Memory (VMEM) announced general availability of the Windows Flash Array (WFA), an all-flash storage array designed for delivering high-performance storage for Windows Storage Server.

Jointly developed with Microsoft, WFA is a tightly integrated combination of Windows Storage Server and Violin’s hardware and software, purpose-built for enterprise and cloud workloads, such as SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint and Windows Server with Hyper-V virtualized applications. The solution taps the storage features of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 embedded into the Windows All Flash Array, including thin provisioning, data deduplication, scalability and encryption along with space efficient snapshots and continuous availability, through Windows failover clustering.

“Microsoft technologies, such as Windows Server, SQL Server and Microsoft SharePoint, are already adopted by enterprises worldwide and growing dramatically,” said Bill Laing, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft. “By jointly developing this highly integrated solution with Violin Memory, we are working together to provide enterprise and cloud customers with dramatically improved performance, scalability, and economics for their Windows applications — virtualized, physical and cloud.”

“We’ve been fans of the software defined storage inside Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and the flash defined storage from Violin Memory ever since we tested solutions from each of these industry leaders separately,” said Brian Garrett, Vice President at ESG. ”But we’re blown away with the Violin Memory Windows Flash Array that combines the power of both. This unique partnership has created a one of a kind solution that dramatically increases the performance and efficiency of business critical application workloads like Microsoft SQL Server and VDI.”

“The WFA solution with Microsoft’s vast suite of server applications is critical for enterprises trying to revolutionize the performance, scale and cost of data center and cloud deployments,” said Kevin DeNuccio, CEO of Violin Memory. “This collaboration with Microsoft produces the necessary integration of compute, network, applications, and storage for customers designing the next generation of cloud and virtualized solutions.”